The Iranian women’s football team refused to sing their national anthem ahead of their Asian Cup opening match in Australia on Monday. The fixture marked the team’s first appearance since tensions escalated between Iran and the US. A viral video clip on social media shows every member of the team standing silently, looking straight ahead, during the anthem before the kickoff of the Group A match between Iran and South Korea, which the latter won 3-0 at the Gold Coast Stadium in Queensland.
After the game came to an end, Iran’s head coach Marziyeh Jafari and her players refused to comment on either the war or the death of their long-serving leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Speaking of the Iranian team, the contingent landed in Australia several days before the escalation of the tensions between the US and Iran. The team will take on the hosts on Thursday before playing their third and final group-stage match against the Philippines on Sunday.
Iran’s players have already been praised for their courage. “Our heart goes out to them and their families, it’s a difficult situation, and it’s really brave of them to be able to be here and to perform,” said the Australian midfielder Amy Sayer, according to The Guardian.
“They put on a really strong performance, even with the political climate that’s going on and the struggles that they might be going through. The best we can do to contribute is just to give them the best game of football [on Thursday] that we’re able and to show them the respect on the field. Hopefully, the situation improves, and they can keep staying safe in Australia,” she added.
Speaking of Iran, they are the only team from the Middle East to have qualified for the tournament, which runs until March 21.
What did the coach say?
Despite losing against South Korea, coach Jafari said that she was satisfied with her team’s performance.
“We knew that we would have a tough game ahead as Korea is one of the toughest teams in Asia. They played very well, so I congratulate them and I hope we can come back to the competition powerfully,” she said.
“We had a strategy for the second half, and we put pressure (on them); we transitioned from defensive to offensive (tactics). We had an individual error for the penalty, and also the set-piece (goal conceded) was one of our players’ fault. But I think the team performance was very good,” she added.
